Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-05-21
FIGHTING JOE" 0 K
The Disaster Which Befell Him at Chan
cellorsviiie - An Engagement That
Filled the South With New Hope and
Robbed the Union Forces of Confidence.

cellorsville - An Engagement That
Filled the South With New Hope and
Robbed the Union Forces Of Confidence.
Concluded
The position at Charlottesville was
good for neither attack nor defense.
Ihe ground was not open enough for
artillery, cavalry was useless, and in
fantry could not advance steadily in
line. The troops were so placed that
no part OF the line could be reinforced
with sufficient speed. The men were
dlsheartened by the retreat, and the
battles that were now tn follow were to
be fought by them under every pos
slble disadvantage. When our forces
fell back, the c~onfederates at once
moved forward and followed them
closely to their breastworks near Chan
cellorsville. Thus closed the opera
tons of Friday, May 1.
That night Lee and jackson had a
long and earnest consultation. They
had still a herculean labor to perform,
and their problem was how, with 3d.
600 men, they could defeat an army Of
at least $4,000, for Reynolds corps
was now about to join Hooker,
strongly fortified in an almost impene-
trable forest. Who suggested the plan
of operations adopted has been a mat
ter of some dispute, most of the con-
federate writers ascribing it to Jack
son. Lee, in his report, does not men
ton the plan as Jackson's, and Fltz
Hugh Lee, in a lecture on the battle,
claimed the plan for Gen. Lee. The
operation itself was not greet general
ship, and has the dash and danger
about it characteristic of Jackson, and
has some similarity to other perform
ances of 1.-THE great flanker.n 1t was
probably his.
A reconnaissance had disclosed that
Rockers right wing, held by the Elev-
enth corps under General Howard, was
'.in the ar" That is, it rested on no
support or defenses. A vigorous attack
at that point would roll up that corps
and would likely bring about the defeat
of the entire federal force. But that
wing was a days march, nearly fifteen
miles away, by the detour that would
have to be made. Such amarch in the
presence of the enemy has been con-
uemned by every military writer. 1t
was undertaken at Rossback by the
French against Frederick the Great,
and it caused the destruction of the
French army; the same operation was
attempted by General Bagration
against Napoleon at Austerlitz, and
the world knows the result; and it was
tried by Marmont against Wellington
at Salamanca, and the French were de-
feated in an hour. Against a general
who knows what his adversary is
doing it is an impossible feat. Against
IA general who coops himself up with a
splendid army in the midst of "A dense
forest, it is n thing that may very pos
sibly succeed. Ii involved the division
of Lees army and the march of Jac'
sons corps across the front of the fed
eral army, offering his own lank TO
any enterprising attack. Should
Hooker remain quiet during the day or
Lee succeed in engrossing all his a,ten-
ton in his direction the stratagem
might succeed.
1t was not great generalship, and if
it had failed, rs it ought to have failed,
it would have been Il serious blow TO
Lees military prestige. 1t belongs TO
the 'nothing venture nothing have
principle. 1t was n gamblers throw.
upon which Lee risked his entire army,
trusting TO the blindness and fatuity of
his adversary.
Early in the morning the movement
began. The route lay through the
woods and was yelled by the forest
from the sight of the federals, except
at one point on the road. where it
passcdssover elevated ground. There
Jackson's column came in full view of
the union troops barely Il mile and IL
half away The movement was OBJ.
served through hundreds of field
glasses. 1t was reported to Sickles,
who reported it to Hooker. The latter
Inferred it to be a retreat of the enc
my and so dispatched to Sedgwick.
but he also had some suspicion that it
might oe a movement to attack his
right, and sent word to Howard to be
on his guard. But nothing was done
that was energetic or vital, or showed
generalship. Jackson's march took
nearly the whole day, but it was at
last accomplished, and q little before
6 p. m. he had reached the coveted
position. Nearly 5000 of the b st
soldiers in the world were in line of
battle within rifle shot of the extreme
right of our army, which, with stacked
arms and at leisure were getting
ready for supper, all danger
being thought to be over for the
night. The forest was full of game,
which, startled at the unusual pre-
sence of man, ran IN numbers to and
over the federal lines. This caused
some jesting on the part of the federal
soldiers, but awakened no suspicion
that it was the steady advance of Jack
sons men that had, started the game.
Then came the sonnd Of bugles, a
n,srttx .haa, ,nt -, ,-.o